Long Flights and Potty Breaks?

[Linda Bell]

Booked the Med cruise with DD. Then I started to freak about the long plane ride and the potty breaks it would entail.

She has MD and cannot walk to the bathroom on a plane. She uses the aisle chair to get to her seat. I was just reading that airlines would provide an aisle chair for potty breaks too.

Has anyone actuallly used this "feature"? I have no idea where they could put such a device and if they could just say no.

Help?

Linda

 

[Figaro]

Hi, Linda!

Make sure you call the airline and tell them you will need an aisle chair to go to the bathroom. Then call again 24 hours before the flight as well as telling them when you check in, when you board and repeat as frequently as you can. In planes of a certain size they are required to have an on-board aisle chair. They are not like the ones that are used for getting to your seat on the plane...they are a version that is able to be folded and placed under a seat.

Airline personnel will not assist with the actual toileting, but will help the person get onto the aisle chair, to the bathroom and back into their seat. Just no help with the actual bathroom. Also, many of them have no or very little training on how to use the on-board aisle chair (often my using it is the first time that they have had it out Just take your time, as they aren't all that difficult to figure out.

If the plane is big enough, there will be a bathroom that will be able to have the door "pulled away" and a privacy curtain. This is large enough for two people (just barely)! If not, you will use a regular, tiny bathroom. Over the years my spouse and I have figured out how to use this kind of bathroom and it is actually easier for me because of the way that I transfer.

Hope you have a wonderful trip!

 

[SueM in MN]

If the plane is big enough, there will be a bathroom that will be able to have the door "pulled away" and a privacy curtain. This is large enough for two people (just barely)! If not, you will use a regular, tiny bathroom. Over the years my spouse and I have figured out how to use this kind of bathroom and it is actually easier for me because of the way that I transfer.

Hope you have a wonderful trip!

We have found that some airplane restrooms that are marked with the wheelchair symbol have some grab bars, but that's all that you can see different. I haven't seen the "pull away" door. I have not taken DD to the airplane bathroom for a while, but in some ways the "cozy-ness" of it works better for us since there are many things to lean against.

 

[Absimilliard]

I've cleaned planes for Air Canada and Air Canada features quite a few kinds of planes. As for the bathrooms, the single aisle Airbus aren't too bad. Not the best, but they're ok. The Airbus 330 and 340 are the best. The middle bathrooms have 2 joined stalls. The good thing is that that the person who accompany you go in the other stall, lock the doors, then you pull the wall separating the stalls away. Another way I've seen is a large door for a single bathroom in the middle. 2 doors pull out and make it private.

 

[SueM in MN]

I've cleaned planes for Air Canada and Air Canada features quite a few kinds of planes. As for the bathrooms, the single aisle Airbus aren't too bad. Not the best, but they're ok. The Airbus 330 and 340 are the best. The middle bathrooms have 2 joined stalls. The good thing is that that the person who accompany you go in the other stall, lock the doors, then you pull the wall separating the stalls away. Another way I've seen is a large door for a single bathroom in the middle. 2 doors pull out and make it private.

that sounds like a pretty nice setup

 

[Linda Bell]

Wonderful....I feel so much better...thanks folks!

Linda